Secret Agent's report 'Better Apartments: Before There Were Standards' looks at the quality of apartments built in the last six years, and compares them with Victoria's new Better Apartments Design Standards.

Only 7.7 per cent of Melbourne's apartments would comply with new room-size standards, according to the report.

Just over 10% of two-bedroom apartments in the sample met with the new design standards on all three factors: main bedroom size, smallest bedroom size, and living area size. 

Only 3-4 per cent of three and one-bedroom apartments met in all three measures.

Source: Secret Agent.

Secret Agent looked 3,000 apartments from 21 suburbs in 33 buildings in inner Melbourne. The full list of all 33 buildings and the number of apartments sampled from each are included in the report.

"While the majority of apartments in the sample performed well on one or two factors, the number of apartments that already meet the majority of standards is astonishingly small," the report says. 

To read the government's Better Apartment Design Standards click here.

To read Secret Agent's report on how existing apartments compare to the new standards, click here.

See also:

Old apartments more valuable than new, says Secret Agent

Melbourne faces apartment shortfall as approvals fail to complete

MPavilion puts apartments for families on the agenda